156 T HE IRRIGA TIG A" A GE. 



small grain are grown in Star Valley, fifty miles further south but at 

 about the same elevation and with similar surroundings. At present 

 the object of all farmers is to raise cattle to eat the free grass. It is 

 the easiest and most profitable form of agriculture which can be fol- 

 lowed and so long as this continues to be true other kinds of farming 

 will be neglected. If, however, oats can be grown at all, there is not 

 a place on this continent where the crop will be more profitable. 

 From the time our party left the Grey Bull river until we reached 

 the Yellowstone Park we were unable to buy, beg or steal a pound of 

 grain to feed our teams. We were so greatly in need of it when we 

 reached this valley that price would have been no object. It is al- 

 ready a great resort for hunters and in time will be for tourists. To 

 care for them properly, food for teams is as necessary as food for men 

 and the farmer who will provide for meeting this demand has a 

 bonanza. 



We had for our first supper a six pound trout caught in a brook in 

 Mr. Miller's meadow. Later on we had elk steaks as a part of our 

 regular bill of fare. On every side we saw evidence of the fact that 

 we were in what was once the greatest home of large wild game on 

 this continent. It was just at the close of the haying season and the 

 immense stacks of hay were everywhere being surrounded by two 

 parallel fences each about eight feet high and the same distance 

 apart. It was explained that these were necessary in order to keep 

 elk from Destroying these stacks in winter. A single fence would not 

 suffice, but if they jumped one they would land between the two and 

 be unable to escape. The necessity for this protection had been 

 abundantly manifested, the winter previous, It had been of unusual 

 severity and thousands of these animals had been forced by starva- 

 tion into the settlers' fields and corrals. In order to save enough for 

 their cattle the settlers had to guard their hay stacks day and night. 

 The elk which starved to death inside settlers' meadows were num- 

 bered by thousands. We saw hundreds of skeletons which attested 

 the truth of this statement, and were told by one gentleman that he 

 could take us to a point at which within a radius of fifty feet a hun- 

 dred skeletons could be counted. We were shown the hide of a moose 

 shot within a hundred feet of a settler's door. Notwithstanding the 

 immense number of these animals which now exist it was the convic- 

 tion of all our party that unless some measures are taken to protect 

 them from the wanton slaughter which is now going on, the day of 

 their absolute extinction is near at hand. As we left the valley on 

 the first of September, the first day of the hunting period, we met 

 nineteen hunting parties in a half day. There ought to be some pleac 

 on this continent where large wild game will be preserved so that 

 future generations may know something of the primitive life of this 

 region. Nothing would be more to the future advantage of this state 



